


Full Disclosure

by lordjohnmarbury



Category: The West Wing
Genre: Campaign fic, Coming Out, M/M, Pre-Canon, pre-administration
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-09-09
Updated: 2017-09-28
Packaged: 2018-12-25 17:03:03
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,892
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12040329
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lordjohnmarbury/pseuds/lordjohnmarbury
Summary: "He's asking if you're gay, Charlie, and I wouldn't answer the damn question."Why did Sam get so mad at Josh for asking Charlie this question? On the Bartlet for America campaign, Josh and Sam get asked the same thing.





	1. Josh

Josh tipped his head back to drain the last drops in his can of Pepsi, and almost choked as Donna chose that time to rap on the door to his office. She had a uncanny ability to silently creep up on him and take him unawares. Coughing, Josh put down the empty can and glared at her.  
“I came to tell you that CJ wants you in her office, but I guess I should also let you know that I am trained in first aid and can perform the Heimlich manoeuvre if needed.”  
“Did they not teach you on your first aid course not to make people choke in the first place?” Josh countered as he stood up from his desk and pulled his jacket on.  
“Technically, the root cause of you choking is your caffeine dependency crossing the line into addiction.” Given the mound of soda cans and Starbucks cups piling up in his garbage can, Josh realized that he couldn’t really argue with this point, and instead satisfied himself with pushing an armful of binders into Donna’s arms as he headed out of the room.  
“Make notes on these for my meeting with Finance this afternoon!” He called over his shoulder.  
“I’m not your slave, you know,” Donna huffed as she staggered slightly under the precariously balanced pile of binders.  
“Nope, just a dedicated and willing volunteer to the worthy cause of Bartlet for America,” Josh grinned.  
“You’re going to have to start paying me eventually!” Donna called back, echoing their first meeting. Josh had already grown fond of his assistant and the easy banter they had cultivated. He had admired the ballsy way she had hired herself, and had quickly found that her work and ability to actually keep him on schedule for once really was invaluable.

He headed down the corridor of the cramped and bustling New Hampshire campaign headquarters towards CJ’s office at the end of the building. Limited funds meant that the campaign HQ wasn’t exactly luxury, and his office was about half the size of the one he had while working for Hoynes, but both he and CJ and lucked out and gotten offices to themselves. Toby was particularly disgruntled at having to share his workspace with Sam. 

Josh felt his slight grin grow wider as he thought about Sam. They had resumed their friends-with-benefits relationship that first started in their twenties and had been interrupted by their careers, Lisa and Mandy. Josh had worried that things might have grown awkward during their ten years apart, but it felt as if nothing had changed as the guys had fallen back into their old routine of sex and politics.

Fuck, Josh thought as he forced himself to wipe the smirk off his face. If he was perfectly honest with himself he wanted their relationship to be more than that, but he knew it would be impossible. Sex in each other’s hotel rooms they could just about hide, but a secret relationship was a recipe for disaster and the end of the Bartlet campaign if the media ever got wind of it. And being open about their relationship was an even more laughable thought. Josh had long ago accepted that he’d have to choose between a career in politics and being out the closet, and, well… career came first. 

“You wanted me, CJ?” Josh asked as he poked his head around the door to her office.  
“Yeah, come sit down,” she smiled, gesturing for the chair opposite her that just about fit into the space between the desk and wall. “Leo’s put me in charge of gathering background info for everyone’s personnel files. Just making sure that no-one on the campaign is going to potentially embarrass the Governor.”  
“Sure,” Josh sat down, placing his elbows on his thighs, trying to pretend he hadn’t noticed his heartbeat start to speed up.  
“Okayyyy” CJ dragged out the word as she shuffled through piles of paper on her desk. “First question: have you ever publicly supported or worked on a campaign for a Republican candidate?”  
“No, but I have worked on John Hoynes’ campaign and at this point I’m not sure there’s much difference.”  
CJ nodded, “We should be able to spin you jumping ship from Hoynes. Y’know, focusing on how that’s proof Bartlet is the better candidate: even his top advisor didn't back him. Next question: have you consumed illegal drugs in the past year?”  
“Nope.”  
“Have you ever consumed drugs?”  
“Yeah,” Josh blushed. “During my freshman year of college, I smoked quite a bit of weed. But never anything harder than that, and I ended up quitting to focus on work ‘cause I missed the dean’s list two semesters in a row.”  
CJ titled her head to one side as she scribbled notes. “Ok, that’s not ideal but not the end of the world. Hopefully none of your college buddies will even bring it up, but we like to be prepared so that I don’t get blindsided by the press. You’ve never been married, so I don’t have to ask you the questions about infidelity or divorce… next up is question seven: have you ever been involved in a relationship that could be embarrassing to the campaign?”  
Shit. This was the question that knew had been coming, and had been dreading answering. He looked down into his lap, ran his fingers through his hair and let out a shuddery breath before answering, still not looking at CJ. “Yes.”  
“Yes?”  
Josh finally forced himself to look CJ in her eyes. “I’m bisexual, CJ. I’ve been in relationships with men.” He could see the conflicted emotions in her eyes: she was likely just as liberal when it came to gay rights issues as anyone else in the Bartlet for America team, but she also knew as well as he did that the campaign was hardly representative of the rest of the country. “I haven’t been to a gay bar or dated since college… I knew that it was going to be a problem, so I stopped as soon as I got into politics.” 

It was true, sort of. Josh hadn’t had a real, official, boyfriend for years. Sam wasn’t his boyfriend.  
“Ok, Josh.” CJ finally spoke. Her voice was surprisingly soft with sympathy, and Josh almost wished that she was shouting. “You dated Mandy Hampton, right? That should mean the press won’t ask too many questions.”  
“I’ll resign if I need to,” Josh says quickly.  
“Just be discrete, you know? As much of a pain in the ass you can be, I’d miss you if you went.”  
Josh nodded and headed for the door.


	2. Sam

Josh walked as fast as he could towards Sam’s office without looking suspicious. He knocked on the door of the office and was relieved to see that Sam was sitting at his desk, glasses on and frowning at his laptop screen, while Toby’s chair was empty.  
“Hey.” Sam looked up at the sound of Josh’s voice and his face relaxed into a smile.  
“Hey. Do you want to go grab lunch in a minute? I’m nearly done with this draft of the agriculture speech.”  
“Sure, but first you gotta talk to CJ.” Josh replied as he stepped across the cramped office, dodging stacks of papers. A slight crease returned to Sam’s brow.  
“What does she want?”  
Joshed leaned in over the desk and lowered his voice slightly.  
“She, um, wanted to ask, you know, the gay question.” Sam’s eyebrows flew up.  
“She knows about us…?”  
“Nah, it’s just the standard recruitment questionnaire, making sure that we’re not going to embarrass Bartlet,” Josh shrugged. Sam stood up and strode towards the door.  
“I fail to see how being gay is embarrassing. The fact that I trip over these boxes,” he gestured towards the piles on the ground, “is embarrassing. The fact that I’m gay is not, and frankly, it’s none of CJ’s business. Wait, what did you tell her?” Sam turned in the doorway to face Josh, who shrugged again.  
“I told her the truth, Sam. That I’m bisexual.” He held up a warning hand anticipating Sam’s protest before he could open his mouth. “And, yes, I know that in an ideal world, none of this would matter, but we live in the real world, and the media or another campaign gets hold of the fact that two of Bartlet’s top campaign staffers like to fuck men, you know that it’s gonna be an issue and CJ has to be prepared for that. I don’t like it either, but that’s the price we have to pay if we want to do this. Bartlet’s the real thing, and I’m not going to fuck this up.” 

Josh looked earnestly into Sam’s eyes, willing him to see reason. Sam was so concerned with principles and Josh appreciated it, loved him for it, even, but he had to be realistic. The Bartlet for America campaign was a pretty idealistic long shot itself, and they couldn't risk putting the campaign into a more precarious position than it already was. But Sam, of course, didn’t quite think this way. 

*

Sam stalked into CJ’s office a couple of minutes later, not bothering to knock.  
“You wanted me?” He asked brusquely, standing in front of CJ's desk with his arms folded tight across his chest.  
“Oh yeah, Josh sent you? I need you to answer a few questions so that I don’t ever get blindsided by the press.”  
“Ok, well, I don’t have a criminal record so there’s no need for you to worry. I have jaywalked a couple of times, which is illegal in New York, but hopefully no-one will grass me up for that.” Sam was still indignant at what Josh had just told him that he didn’t even get any satisfaction from his passive aggression.  
“Great,” CJ replied, who either hadn’t noticed or was choosing to ignore Sam’s snarky tone. “I just need to ask you a couple of questions about your lifestyle—“  
“My lifestyle?” Sam cut her off. “I’ve already told you I don’t live a life of crime, what more about my lifestyle could you possibly want to know?”  
“Come on, Sam,” CJ sighed. “Don’t make this more difficult than it needs to be. You know what I’m talking about.”  
“Ok!” Sam found his voice raising more than he’d really intended. “I have never slept with a prostitute, I have never prostituted my own body, I've never slept with someone under the age of consent. Beyond that, my sex life is not your, not the media, not the Hoynes campaign, or anyone else’s business! Who I sleep with is not your concern, and frankly, I’d have thought that this campaign would be above the kind of homophobic dog whistling that I’d expect of Republicans. Aren’t we meant to be the good guys? What moral high ground can we claim to occupy if we sink to the level of demonising homosexuality?”  
Sam had fully expected CJ to shout back at him equally as loudly, so was surprised when no retort came. Instead, CJ simply sighed and stared down at her desk for a second before raising her head to look Sam in her eyes. He wondered if it was pity that he saw tinged in her expression.  
“Ok, Sam.” CJ’s voice was soft. “I think I’ve got all that I need.”


End file.
